Voice of the people. (letter)

Deal Those Cards

December 04, 1995|By L.F. DeNardo.

ST. CHARLES — With regard to the letter from Matthew R. Reimer (Voice, Nov. 25) about welfare debit cards, let me say "hooray." What a brilliant idea! A monthly debit card issued to welfare recipients and food-stamp users would be an excellent way to reduce waste and abuse in the system.

The advantages to this system would be many. Trading of food stamps would be eliminated, as there would be no food stamps. Purchase of items that are not essential for basic living would not occur, as they would not be authorized. Accounting would be easier, as everything would be on the computer.

The amount of waste and fraud that could be eliminated would pay for the cost of using cards. And as each card would have an expiration date, at the end of the month it would become useless. The up side of this concept so outweighs any negative concerns that it should be implemented immediately.